Josh Cotton

Staff Reporter

jcotton@timesobserver.com

By July 4, of the 467 men of the 151st Pennsylvania Volunteers that were present at the beginning of the fight, 335 – 73 percent – were either killed, wounded, missing or captured.

“It is with pleasure that I refer to the bravery and efficiency of the officers and the heroic, self-sacrificing spirit manifested by the men of the One hundred and fifty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers,” regimental commander Lt. Col. George F. McFarland. “I regret the loss of the many gallant patriots who lost their lives or received honorable scars in its ranks, but I rejoice it was in the battle of Gettysburg and in defense of human freedom and republican institutions.”

The division commander, Abner Doubleday (who did not invent baseball), cited the 151st as winning an “imperishable fame.”

But the men who were wounded and those who emerged unscathed still had lives to live.

What do we know about those men?

William O. Blodget

Many of the men of Co F returned to the area and lived long lives – well into the 20th century.

Blodget was not among them.

From Dreese: “I am feeling very well, but very indolent (sluggish), can sleep at least 13 hours of the 24… When I first got home I considered myself a pretty much used up institution, a ‘gone coon,’ played out but now I am recruiting considerably,” wrote Blodget nearly a year after the battle… After his return, his wife, Ester, wrote “Will has not been well for two weeks. You know about how it is – up then down again. There is not much perceptible change… I do not see much to encourage.

“William also seemed to resign himself to his fate. In a letter addressed to his older brother, Lorin, dated September 28, 1864, he states, ‘I have sold my store and have got my affairs into pretty good shape generally… “God grant old Abe may be our next president.”

Blodget died over a year later on New Years Day 1866 of consumption, or tuberculosis.

His wife died a day earlier.

Dreese wrote that Blodget’s will was completed between his wife’s death and his own and made arrangements for his three minor children – Martha, Hugh, and Spencer.

The three children all settled out west.

Nathan J. Cooper

Nathan Cooper was a farmer throughout his life. He died in 1917 at the age of 83 and is interred at the Turnpike Cemetery located between Sugar Grove and Lottsville.

From Dreese: “Cooper returned to his wife and child in Sugar Grove and resumed farming and lumbering on his small property, located at the intersection of the Turnpike and North roads… Nathan’s first priority was a refreshing dip in a nearby stream. He asked his wife for a clean set of clothes and then burned his lice-infested wardrobe. Mary Isabelle gave birth to four more children over the next seven years. Two years after Mary’s death in 1888, Nathan wed… Viola Gates Nichols, who was over twenty years younger than he was. Mary Baker Cooper was born to this union in 1891. She died in Westerville, Ohio in 1991.

“A double rupture and recurrent rheumatism netted Nathan a $25 monthly pension. He served as the chaplain of the James P. Younic G.A.R. Post. Nathan died at the age of 84 in 1917.”

Judge James L. Lott

According to his gravestone, he re-entered the service in the Veterans Reserve Corps where he was commissioned by President Lincoln as a lieutenant. He was discharged after the war on Nov. 9, 1866, from Charleston, SC.

The Veteran Reserve Corps was designed to bring men who were partially disabled or otherwise fit for front-line duty into the Army to perform light-duty tasks which would free up fully able-bodied men to go to the front lines.

He returned to Lottsville, serving as the postmaster for many years (a politically appointed position that was significant at the time) until his death in 1884.

Ariel D. Frank

Little is known about Frank, whose name also appears in documentation as “Anil.”

Sylvanus Walker

Like many of the men in the regiment, Sylvanus Walker wasn’t native to Warren County. From Findagrave, he was born in 1832 in Peacham, Vermont and eventually settled in the area. He married a woman named Catherine and they are buried at the Grant Cemetery in Nirobe, NY. Walker was living in Harmony in Chautauqua County by the time he died in 1910. His gravestone incorrectly identifies him as serving in Co. F, 151st New York. A soldiers database provided by the National Park Service indicates that the only other Sylvanus Walkers that served were from Massachusetts and Louisiana so it is most likely that this Walker is the one who was a corporal in the 151st Pa. He was wounded in the hand at Gettysburg.

Leander Wilcox

Leander Wilcox was born in 1833 in Sherman, New York, according to Findagrave. He married a woman named Anna and had two children. After the war, he returned to Crawford County and was admitted to the bar in 1864 and practiced in Titusville for most of his life. In late August 1893, Wilcox moved to Cambridge Springs under the belief that his health would be improved. However, he died just a few weeks later. He was returned to Titusville where he is buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery.

Samuel A. Tuttle

Nine months in the Army wasn’t enough service for Tuttle. After his time in the 151st – including a wound at Gettysburg – he reenlisted into Co. K, 199th Pennsylvania. He was born on September 2, 1836, and married his wife Almira, with whom he had three children. He died in 1871 and is buried at the Wrightsville Cemetery. His gravestone has been largely consumed by a lilac bush and can be a challenge to find.

John W. Allen

Little is known about Allen, though his lieutenant, Theodore Chase, who arrived at the battlefield after the fact, noted that Allen was wounded in the leg “not bad but bad enough.”

Jared F. Bartlett

Bartlett was born in 1836, married a woman names Naimi and had two daughters. He was interred at the Youngsville Cemetery after his death in March 1886, according to Findagrave.

Richard Brooks

Brooks born in 1841 and died in 1915 at the age of 73, according to the Feb. 23 edition of the Warren Evening Times. Brooks was born in Philadelphia and died in Pittsfield Township. He was noted as one of the first settlers of Forest County, moving there as a young man who helped survey the county. An IOOF member, he was buried at the Wrightsville Cemetery.

Jehial Carr

According to a National Park Service database, there is only one ‘Jehial Carr’ that served in the Civil War. Correspondingly, there is only one listing on Findagrave for the name, an 1864 burial at the Nashville National Cemetery. Carr was buried there in Jan. 1864. The cemetery, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs which oversees it, is “remains of soldiers removed from temporary burial grounds around Nashville’s general hospitals, as well as the Civil War battlefields at Franklin and Gallatin, Tenn., and Bowling Green and Cave City, Ky.”

William Carr

What we know is that Carr is buried at the Bear Lake Cemetery and was buried there in 1863 after he died from wounds sustained at Gettysburg. There is some ambiguity regarding when he died – three weeks after the battle or three months – but Carr left behind a wife, Margaret Ellen Todd, when he died, as well as two children, John born in 1860 and DeForest born in 1862.

Perry F. Chandler

Chandler was wounded in the shoulder and captured for a time. I was unable to learn anything else about him.

Andrew Gantz

Gantz was an immigrant. He was born, according to Findagrave, on Jan. 3, 1831 in Baldenhein Department du-Bas-Rhin in Alsace, France. He died in 1914 and is buried at Oakland Cemetery.

William E. Guignon

Potentially with a middle of “H,” it is thought that Guignon was born in 1839 in Rensselaer Co., New York in Died in November 1899. He is believed to be buried at Oakland Cemetery. He was, for a time, captured at Gettysburg.

William Gray

Gray was born in 1841 and died in 1924 at either age 82 or 83. He is buried at the Spring Creek Cemetery.

John Knupp

Knupp was born in 1942 and is buried at the St. Joseph Cemetery adjacent to Oakland Cemetery. His wife’s name was Emelin and he died in 1909.

Alfred Lacy

Born in 1823 in Yates County, NY, according to Findagrave, Lacy died in 1908. According to an obituary in the Warren Evening Mirror, Lacy moved his family into Warren in 1871 and remained there until his death. “He always had a kind word and pleasant smile for everyone, ever willing to lend a helping hand when needed,” the paper reported. He was involved in a local church the local Grand Army of the Republic post “to which he was very much endeared. He loved to meet with the Boys on Thursday evening of each week wended his way to the Post rooms if well enough to go. He was always present on Memorial Day if possible and even when old and feeble marched to the cemetery (Oakland) to help decorate the graves of his departed comrades, never willing to ride in carriages provided for the older ones, always saying ‘When I cannot march with the Boys, I will not go.'”

Lodewick Loveland

All I know about Loveland is that he was reported missing by Blodget.

John McIntyre

McIntyre was born in January 1829 and is buried at Sanford Cemetery after his death on Jan. 26, 1909. He lived on Eldred Center Rd. and married into the Cooper family (which included Nathan Cooper of the 151st). He was wounded over the eye at Gettysburg and reported missing by Blodget. He also may have served in a light artillery outfit during the war.

Christopher W. McKelvy

Blodget reported that McKelvy was with him on July 2 on Cemetery Hill. I wasn’t able to find out anything else about him.

James E. Norris

Norris was born in 1841 and lost a brother in the Civil War the summer before he enlisted. His brother, John Dale Norris, died in Virginia from illness as part of the 49th New York Infantry and is buried in Virginia. Norris died in 1921 at either 79 or 80 years of age and is buried at the Turnpike Cemetery.

Daniel Porter

Porter, per Findagrave, was born in 1843 in Farmington Township. He was in the St. Paul’s Church Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia but was discharged and with the regiment at Gettysburg. He returned to Warren County and died in 1919, buried at the Thompson Hill Cemetery. He was wounded in the arm and hand.

Orrin and Israel Slye

Orrin was wounded slightly in the arm at Gettysburg. It’s also possible, though unconfirmed, that Israel Slye (quite likely a brother) was also in the fight. Israel is buried at the GAR Circle at Oakland Cemetery.

John Stanton

Stanton, born in May 1827, was captured at Gettysburg and buried at the Pine Grove Cemetery after his death in November 1912.

Hiram Sturdevant

Sturdevant was wounded per the company’s muster rolls. I couldn’t find out anything else about him.

William Sweetland

Sweetland, per Findagrave, was born in 1837 in Michigan. A Free Mason, he was a shoemaker before the war and a grocer after. He married a woman named Eliza but doesn’t appear to have had any children. He died in 1919 and is buried at the Bear Lake Cemetery. Blodget reported him missing on July 2.

George A. Schuyler

Buried with comrades in the GAR Circle at Oakland Cemetery, Schuyler was born on Nov. 21, 1838, per Findagrave and died in Glade Township in 1916. His name is “Schuler” on the stone at Oakland, a common problem when researching these men.

Samuel A. Samuelson

According to Schenck’s History of Warren County, Samuelson was born in Sweden and settled with family in Chautauqua County in 1851 and in Sugar Grove by 1861. He was “slightly wounded at Gettysburg” with the 151st but also served with the 9th New York Infantry during the war. Schenck wrote that Samuelson was “one of Warren County’s prosperous farmers” and a “kind, generous husband and father and was esteemed by all who knew him.” An edition of the 1898 Warren Evening Democrat reported that he died at his home on Yankee Bush of bowel trouble after a four-month illness at the age of 57. He is buried at the Kitchen Cemetery.

Matthew G. Wheelock

Wheelock is another one of the local boys who eventually wound up in Nebraska, where he died in 1895. Wheelock served in the 151st as well as the 199th Pennsylvania. He and his wife Henriette had a son who appears to have moved to Utah, where multiple generations of the family remained.

Lyman D. Wilson

Spelled ‘Willson’ on the Pennsylvania Memorial, Wilson was born in 1832 per Findagrave and died in 1918 at the age of 86. He married a woman named Catherine and had one daughter. He is buried at the Thompson Hill Cemetery.